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This transcription duplicates as closely as possible the actual War Diary of the 21st Battalion CEF. This was completed by Al Lloyd and John "Sarge" Sergeant of the 21st Battalion Discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/21sters/
Every effort has been made to correct typing and spelling errors that appear in the original document that involve the names and numbers of the men mentioned. This was done in order to allow researchers to locate individuals by a key-word search. Had those spelling mistakes not been corrected, the entries would not be found.
An effort has been made to retain a similar layout or appearance of the original War Diary. This was not always possible in that the original is in landscape format and for ease of viewing, it formatted here in a portrait format.
On occasion there are transcriber's comments printed in italics and in other places there are some words that are undecipherable, and noted as such.
There are also many pages of original memos, messages and maps that were included in the diary. Those have been reproduced here as images and not transcribed.
Notes
Adapted from Library and Archives Canada (LAC):
From the start of the First World War, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) units were required to maintain a daily account of their "Actions in the Field". This log was called a "War Diary". The LAC database contains the digitised War Diaries of CEF infantry, artillery and cavalry units, Brigade, Division and Corps commands and support units such as Railway and Forestry troops.
These are not personal diaries. War Diaries rarely record information about individual men. This is because War Diaries were never intended to document individual service and also due to the size of the unit to which a single War Diary referred.
The information found in the War Diaries varies greatly, and is dependent on the ability of the junior officer responsible for writing the diary on a day-to-day basis. Because of this variation, one may find a detailed account of a battalion's involvement in a battle, a description of training exercises, or simply a sentence describing the weather.
Please note that the LAC database does NOT contained the transcribed version of the war diary as presented here. The transcriptions of the War Diaries are being made by members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group. For further information see here: http://cefresearch.com/matrix/War%20Diaries/index.htm
